Semi-Finals

Since I have been wrong so many times I was almost not going to write something, but then I thought,"What about those two, maybe three, people that read my predictions?  I can't let them down!"  So here are my picks...

Germany v. Turkey:  Germany showed up to play against Portugal yet still made me nervous by giving up two goals and looking sluggish at times.  It was nice though to see Klose finally score in a big game.  Damn is he ugly, but Schweinsteiger has some skills.  Turkey showed that they will never go away by beating Croatia.  That goal in the 120th minute was crazy.  Germany is going to have to get a three goal lead to make sure they can win this.  That being said, I think Germany is on to the finals with a 3-1 victory.

Russia v. Spain:  Where did Russia come from? After looking terrible the first two games they have decided to start playing.  This is a fun team to watch and also the youngest in the tourney.  I was more than surprised when they beat the Netherlands 3-1.  Spain has been doing what they are supposed to do, finally.  This is the first time a Spanish team hasn't fallen on it's face.  This is gonna be an exciting one.  I have been getting about half of my predictions right so far...I might as well as keep that going...Russia wins 2-1.

Now on to my other favorite sport, hockey.  It looks like one of my favorite anchors for ESPN is leaving.  Barry Melrose has just been hired as the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  I don't pay attention to hockey at all but Melrose is hilarious.  He can totally make fun of himself and let's the other guys make fun of him.  This does not mean however, that I am going to start watching Lightning games.

The Group Stage is done...

Now things really get interesting.  Since so many of my earlier predictions were wrong I thought I would now make new predictions for the single elimination stage.  So here are my new fearless predictions.

Portugal v. Germany:  This is going to be an intense game.  Portugal has looked fine through all of their games.  Yes, they lost to Switzerland but they had already clinched the group and were resting everyone.  Germany looked really good against Poland and then pretty poor against Croatia, costing me a jersey that I then owed Danny.  Against Austria they looked just good enough to win but not convincing.  Germany is going to have to play very well to win this.  It certainly is not going to help that their coach Joachim Loew will not be allowed to coach after being sent off in the last game.  Many of the German players are trying to get healthy for the match while the Portuguese players have basically had a full week of rest.  A little side fact, the pitch has been completely replaced in the last day or two for this match at St.Jakob Park.  Maybe the new grass won't even hold up.  If Germany plays like they can they will win.  I'm also a little biased on this one.

Croatia v. Turkey:  Croatia has lived up to their title as the big dark  horse of the tourney.  The have won every game they have played and have lots of momentum going into their match against Turkey.  After getting stomped by Portugal in their first game Turkey has been the only team to come back from being down to win a match.  This is a team that doesn't go away.  Unfortunately for them, I think that they are going to go away this time.

Netherlands v. Russia:  The Netherlands have been the big surprise to me.  They have always been a good team but this time they are looking not just good but dominant.  Their style is a lot of fun to watch, not a lot of defense and a whole lot of offense.  Holland made easy work of Romania (2-0), Italy (3-0) and France (4-1).  Russia on the other hand has not been really convincing.  They are fun to watch as they are the youngest team.  Russia got destroyed by Spain (4-1), squeaked by Greece (1-0) but looked really good against Sweden winning 2-0.  The score should have been 5-0 with all the chances they had.  This is the first time Russia has made it out of the group stage in any major tournament since the end of the USSR.  Both of these teams focus on their offense with quick counter attacks  My conservative prediction for this is the Netherlands beating Russia 15-10.

Spain v. Italy:  Spain has looked very comfortable in their first three matches.  Like Russia and the Netherlands, Spain has a very fast counter attack and the ability to score at almost any moment.  They might find more of a challenge than Russia, Sweden and Greece with Italy.  That depends on what Italian team shows up.  In Italy's first two games they looked very old and almost confused.  In their qualify or go home game against France they finally stepped it up and looked like they even wanted to win.  I am not convinced though.  I think that Italy will not be able to stop Spain, their defense might slow Spain down but it won't be enough to put them over the top.

So there are my quarterfinals picks.  I am pretty confident that I will be right with all of them except for Germany v. Portugal, this one could really go either way.  With that being said, I am still expecting Germany to win.

The Portuguese Mono-Brow

Portuguese defender Jose Bosingwa has a sweet mono-brow

Euro 2008 so far...

Haha, you suffered one of your worst losses ever.

 Well the first round of games are done, everybody has played once and showed off what they got and don't got.  

Some observations:

Spanish forward Fernando Torres looks like he should be playing with these guys.

Speaking of Spain, they made easy work of Russia this morning.  While they made Russia look silly I'm not totally convinced that they are going to make it to the final.  While they do have maybe the quickest counter attack ever, I think that they could be exploited.  Their play reminds me of University of Puget Sound basketball.  Nothing but lay-ups, three pointers and full court press.  This works great until you play a good team with big guys.  Russia had their chances and they didn't capitalize.  If they had been able to put some away, I think that they could have thrown Spain off.  Russia also doesn't have very good defense so it will be interesting to see Spain play against someone with some D.  At the same time, David Villa started the tourney off the best way possible with a hat trick.

Greece=Boring...What a boring boring boring boring team tactic.  Play defense and kick the ball around in the back until the opposing team falls asleep and then launch a quick attack.  That tactic only works when you are winning.  When you are losing you just end up wasting time.  When I was looking for some highlights of the Greece v. Sweden game I came upon this.

Netherlands v. Italy:  Holland is my new favorite team.  I like that even though they were up by two goals they still went for more.  It was also great to see Italy lose.  Holland definitely made Italy look old, they only had one player on the field under the age of 30.  Maybe I was wrong about Holland not making it out of the group stage.  It would be pretty fun to see Holland v. Spain.  That would be a game of no defense, just goals and counter attacks.

Romania v. France:  What an un-inspired game.  Both teams played flat and didn't show much.  They both could be in trouble next game.  Holland has a lot of momentum going right now and Italy is going to be very amped up after the embarrassing loss.

Austria surprised me a bit.  They didn't look absolutely terrible. 

Croatia also surprise me, they didn't look nearly as good as I thought they would.  They are going to need to step it up against Germany who made some easy work of Poland.  Speaking of Germany, they have go to have the ugliest player in the tournament.  That player is, Bastian Schweinsteiger.  I couldn't find a really good picture but if you watch Germany play look for his 80's pop band hair cut.

I didn't get to see Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, and Turkey as I don't get ESPN Classic but those games went as I expected.  I will try and watch them play tomorrow.

Sexy win Deutschland

Just like her...

An ugly win, but a win none the less...

And now for something less than ugly:



NAPRIJEDE HRVATSKA!

Euro Cup 2008

First off, I know that this is going to be a post of a lot of research and time, when nobody is going to care.  But here I go...      

For those who do not know what the Euro Cup is let me quickly explain.  It is the World Cup of just European countries.  It occurs every four years in the even year between the World Cup.  The Euro Cup often has great upsets and amazing goals.  For instance,  in 1992 Denmark won the tournament.  Denmark only made it to the tournament because Yugoslavia had to withdraw due to the wars of yugoslav secession.  In 2004, Greece who had only appeared in one World Cup beat Portugal 1-0 to become champions.  At the beginning of the tournament Greece was given 150-1 odds.

This year the tournament is hosted by Austria and Switzerland with the final being played in Vienna.  The official mascots of "Euro 2008" are Trix and Fix.  Hmmm, something about them makes me think Sonic. 

Here are the teams in the tournament...Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Romania, and  The Netherlands.

Like the World Cup, the teams are put in groups A-D.  Each team plays the other teams in its groups.  From there the top two teams in each group move on to the single elimination.  Winner of Group A will play the runner up of Group B and the winner of Group B will play the runner up of Group A.  The winner of those two games then plays each.  You can figure out the rest.  If you can't, you're an in idiot.

Here are the groups.

Group A:

Swizterland

Portugal

Czech Republic

Turkey

Group B:

Austria 

Croatia

Poland

Germany

Group C:

Netherlands

Italy

Romania 

France

Group D:

Greece

Sweden

Spain

Russia

Here is what I think of each team...

Group A:

Switzerland: This is a team that last tournament said they were going to surprise people.  They did not.  They will not surprise anyone this time around as well.  With many key players being hurt their already sub-par team will only be less effective.  Congratulations! You are hosting so you get a bid!  Now you can loose in front of more people than normal!  Your team sucks.  They will not get out of the group stage.

Portugal:  With C. Ronaldo leading the team this could be an exciting crew to watch.  As one reporter puts it...Ronaldo brings goals, glitz and enough hair gel to torch a quaint Austrian suburb if anyone gets even close to him with a lit match.  In all of their past Euro trips they have lost to the eventual winner.  In 2004 they lost to Greece in the final.  This team has potential to go far but I don't see them making it to the final.  I do think that they will win Group A though.

Czech Republic: The Czechs are kind of a dark horse.  They are not the dark horse of choice, as that is saved for Croatia, but they could surprise some people.  I think that they will be the runner ups in Group A.  Why they are under the radar is because they are a team that is rebuilding.  They also have one of the best keepers, Petr Cech. 

Turkey:  I don't know that I really consider Turkey part of Europe but that is a different discussion.  Turkey could potentially lose to Switzerland and they won't beat the other two.  When to qualify for the tournament you tie Malta and Moldova (seriously, has anyone even heard of that country?) and you lose to Bosnia, you don't deserve much confidence.  Now that I think about it, how did they even get in the tournament?

Group B:

Austria: There is legitimate concern about them being in the tournament.  Austria is only participating because they are hosting.   Some are saying that this won't be a chance to show of the beautiful country but instead a chance to embarrass the country with their terrible play.  They will not make it out of group stage.  They should consider their Euro 2008 experience a success if they are able to tie Poland.

Croatia: The is the trendy dark horse pick.  To qualify they made easy work of Russia, England and Israel.  Here is one description of their coach...Slaven Bilic, 39, is either the coolest dad you have ever had, or a man in the throes of such a farcical mid-life crisis it's only a couple of days before he shows up on the bench wearing a pair of crotch-less chaps.  If you get a chance to watch them play, keep an eye on Luka Modric as he could score some good goals.  I believe that they will end the group stage in second place.  Hope I didn't offend you or your country Danny.

Poland: Poland is notorious for making a great run to enter the World Cup and then fall apart when they get there.  I think that this will continue unless they can beat Croatia to get second place.  Poland has good players but they are not very well distribute.  If they could put their best eleven players on the field, three would be keepers.

Germany: God's gift to soccer...Just kidding (kind of).  Germany is the favorite for Euro 2008.  They have a solid team that has played well together.  One of their concerns is their keeper.  Jens Lehmann can play well but sometimes falls apart.  There are some people who genuinely think that he is crazy.  Ballack will probably score some nice goals making this team that should be fun to watch.  I think that they will win Group B and could go all the way.

Group C:

Netherlands: Holland has the bad luck of being in the group of death with France and Italy.  They do however have the good luck of not having much expected of them.   Their defense is not good enough to get them out the group stage however.  This is not a bad team, just not a good enough team.  I do think that they will beat Romania though.

Italy: Even though they have the oldest team in the tourney, average age of 29.57, they could be a pick to win it all if they weren't in the group of death.  The only teams with shorter odds of winning it all is Germany and Spain.  Italy could suffer a bit as Totti as retired from international play, but overall this is a good team.  I think that they will win Group C.  I think that Italy will lose in the semi-finals however.

Romania: This is a team that could give Italy and France some trouble or a scare, but I don't see it happening.  Netherlands v. Romania will be a good match however as Romania has won the last two times.  Netherlands will not under estimate them again.  Romania will finish in the bottom however when they lose to Netherlands.  Interesting fact, forward Adrian Mutu used to drink the blood of porn stars and do lines of coke to increase his sexual performance.  Something to think about kids.

France:  France is a young team who may have 10 starters who have never played in an international tournament.  This does not mean that they will be sucky, however.  France produces some of the best talents so these young guys could do a thing or two.  They at least have to have some talent if Henry might not even start.  I do think that they will get second place in the group stage but then lose the next game.  Side note, I hope Thierrey Henry comes to the Sounders.

Group D:

Greece: While Greece surprised everyone and won it all in 2006, I don't see that happening again.  I do not think that they will get so lucky.  This Greek team lost to Turkey 4-1 a little while ago.  On the other hand, Sweden has not beaten Greece since they won 9-0 in the 1920 Olympics.  I think that Sweden will break that streak and Greece will finish at the bottom.

Sweden: This is a team that will be the runner up in the group stage.  While I do think that they will beat Greece and tie Russia I don't think they will do much.  Something to look for, Kim Kallstrom (nicknamed Kongo-Kim) has a hard shot.  In 2006 when training for the World Cup his shot knocked out a team-mate.

Spain:  This is one of the hip choices to win it all.  They have great talent and one of the best keepers in the world.  Unfortunately Spain is notorious for having all the potential to only fall on its face.  I think that this will be the year however that they will not do that and go to the finals.  I'm looking to see Germany and Spain in the final.  One criticism of Spain is that there are too many cook.  If they can work together and overcome their average defense, they will be a force.  They are going to win Group D.

Russia: The Russian team is in a interesting position because they are just starting to play to their potential, after years of playing poorly and not have any confidence things are turning around.  With their new coach players are encouraged to swear in practice and make fun of each others clubs.  Will their new confidence be able to carry them?  Their star forward will have to sit out of the first two matches after being sent out in their qualifier.  If they are still in it when he returns they might have a chance to do something.  I think however that they will maybe tie Sweden but that is it.

Here is what I think will happen after the group stage.

Quarter Finals:

Portugal v. Croatia=Portugal

Germany v. Czech Republic=Germany

Italy v. Sweden=Italy

Spain v. France=Spain

Semi Finals

Portugal v. Germany=Germany

Italy v. Spain=Spain

Final

Germany v. Spain= Germany

A little side thing...these games are officiated by referees who have professions outside of soccer.  Here is what some of officials do when not on the pitch: piano teacher, sergeant in the South Yorkshire Police force and travel agent. 

There, now you know.  I was going to go back and add links and stuff but after doing this for like 3 hours I'm done.

Peter Schmeichel

Even if you don't want to watch the whole video just check out his second save...sorry the song if pretty annoying.